Effect of nitridation surface treatment on silicon (1 1 1) substrate for the growth of high quality single-crystalline GaN hetero-epitaxy layer by MOCVD

Abstract A single-crystalline with high quality of gallium nitride epilayers was grown on silicon (1 1 1) substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The process of nitridation surface treatment was accomplished on silicon (1 1 1) substrate by flowing the ammonia gaseous. Then, it was followed by a thin aluminum nitride nucleation layer, aluminum nitride/gallium nitride multi-layer and a thick gallium nitride epilayer. The influence of in situ nitridation surface treatment on the crystallinity quality of gallium nitride epilayers was studied by varying the nitridation times at 40, 220 and 400 s, respectively. It was shown that the nitridation times greatly affect the structural properties of the grown top gallium nitride epilayer on silicon (1 1 1) substrate. In the (0 0 0 2) and ( 1 0 1 ¯ 2 ) X-ray rocking curve analysis, a narrower value of full width at half-maximum has been obtained as the nitridation time increased. This is signifying the reduction of dislocation density in the gallium nitride epilayer. This result was supported by the value of bowing and root mean square roughness measured by surface profilometer and atomic force microscopy. Furthermore, a crack-free gallium nitride surface with an abrupt cross-sectional structure that observed using field effect scanning electron microscopy was also been obtained. The phi-scan curve of asymmetric gallium nitride proved the top gallium nitride epilayer exhibited a single-crystalline structure.